r~" · '-l5'- r(;rfV~{ ttt ~LLLu O~, , \: . TIlE OHARAOTER 0'­ THE GENTTJEMA .N. BY FRANCIS LIEBER, C. ]on'::'llDER OF TUE ISSIITUTE OF FRAXCE, .o\.VTliOR OF" CIVIL UBERTY .\XD SELf-oOYERXMEX'I," ETC. 6::gi:rh /tit!) mutlJ (!;;n!lIrgtl) Itbition. PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIP PIN COT T & 00 lSCi4. Euj'-'r. ~'rJ, arcqnling tf) _\ct of Ccmgt'(':-o"l, ill tIto y(~a.r 1'-)O:J~ by t'll.iXCI:; I.H:mm, ill tile Clerk':; Ofii{'{' of the' Distr'irt Court of the lillilt" l ;-:'tatC:-1 I:", flU' ~!)ntli('J'n nh;trict uf XI\\' YI)rl~. ADVERTISEMENT FOR THE THIRD EDITION. THE manuscript of the third edition, with many additions and some corrections, had been lying for years in the author's library, when recently he found that in 1862 this little work had been issued from the British press, with a preface by "E. B. Shuld­ ham, Ch. Ch. Oxon." Possibly a reprint of the English edition might be published in America, did not the author himself furnish the public with a new one. This is the reason why the present third, or, if the Engli1111 publication bc counted, fourth, edition, is now issued even in the midst of our civil war, which leads us to think of graver and far dif­ ferent things. I have retained the form of an address, for reasons given in the preface to the second edition; and I have not hesitated to add remarks which may ap­ pear as anachronisms in a discourse delivered so long ago as in the year 1846. F. L. 3 PART OF THE PREFACE TO TllE SECOND EDITION, PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1847. TilE students of Miami University, in the State of Ohio, did me the honor of inviting me, during the past summer, to deliver an address on the even­ ing before their Commencement Day. I had never visited that teeming region of the spreading West, and gladly accepted the invitation. The addre s was printed, according to custom, and I wa fur­ nished with a liberal supply of copies, not sufficient, however, to satisfy all persons who seemed desirous of perusing it. Repeated propositions to republish it were made; but they would not have induced me to venture upon a second edition of so fugitive a composition, had not some trustees and many stu­ dents of our own institution desired me to do it. I now offer the following pages, still called on the title-page an address, but forming in reality an essay. For, in preparing the copy for republication, I have not only felt at liberty to make alterations and many additions, but I have thought it my duty 5 6 PREFACE TO TllE SECOND EDITION. to do so, simply because my composition is now to be read, and not to be heard, and because I was desirous of rendering it less unworthy of a second issue from the press. I must beg the reader to keep this fact in mind, should he, in perusing these pages, feel disposed critically to compare the present length of the dis­ course with the time which ought in fairness to limit orally-delivered addresses, and possibly to charge me with a failing against which I have a strong aversion,-the error of detaining hearers, or readers, of speeches, addresses, exhortations, mes­ sages, and documents, beyond reasonable bounds. No one acknowledges more readily than myself the inconvenience arising from lengthy lucubra­ tions and unmeasured effusions. They war with a virile style, with vigorous thought, and close atten­ tion, and lead to an unfortunate passiveness in the hearers who are patient only because their minds fall into a state of half-absorbing dulness, assimi­ lating with themselves what is said as little as the sponge assimilates the moisture which it absorbs. \Ve must acknowledge that inordinately long, shal­ low speaking has become a national and, I fear, an unnerving evil, which it is full time to amend, if character, the true source of national greatness, is PREFACE TO TUE SECOND EDITION. 7 dearer to us than speeches; but as to the pages I here offer, the reader will remember what I just stated,-that the composition, although retaining the form of an address, has become in reality an essay, and as such I would hope that it is not too long in proportion to the importance of its subject, when we consider it as an element of the high and various civilization which has become the proud inheritance and responsible talent of the vast family composed of all the advanced nations. F.L. January, 184'7. THE CHARACTER OF THE GENTLEMAN.* YOUNG GENTLEMEN: The very word by which I have the pleasure of addressing you will form the subject of the address, which, in the spirit of great kind­ ness, you have called upon me, unknown to you as I am, to delh·er on this festive day. I tender you my cordial thanks for this proof of your regard; but, in doing so, I must remind you that I find difficulties of no common cha­ racter surrounding me at this moment. My foot treads for the first time the soil of your Rylvan State; I am unacquainted with what may be peculiar to your society, or character­ istic of your institution. I thus may stand * Originl111y an Address delivered to the students of !lliumi University. Ohio, on Commencemenl Eve 184G. (/ 10 CHARACTER OF THE GENTLEMAN. in danger of losing myself with you in unpro­ fitable generalities. Let me beg you, there­ fore, to bear with me, should you consider my subject not sufficiently characteristic for this particular occasion, for which I have selected the Character of the Gentleman. It appeared to me that an inquiry into the proposition, What is the true character of the gentleman, and what rules of action do we derive from the results of this inquiry? might be made useful and instructive to young men who, in receiv­ ing a liberal education, are preparing them­ selves for the most important walks of prac­ tical life, or the spheres ofliterature, eloquence, and public action. Young as you are, you must have observed, that the term gentleman is used in common intercourse indeed almost unmeaningly, or as a term merely indicating that we do not mean the opposite; but that the word has also come to designate, in a direct and positive manner, a character of high and oven lofty attributes, and, at the same time, is employed on occa­ sions apparently much differing in their na­ CIlARACTER OF TIlE GENTLEMAN. 11 ture. It is made use of as an incentive in education at home and in training at school for those who are yet sporting through the age of boyhood. Everyone of us has felt his boyish heart glow more warmly when our parent or teacher said, with smiling approval, "You arc a little gentleman j" and Dr. Thomas Arnold, the solid scholar, the loving Christian, devoted friend of liberty, and great school­ master, pronounced it his highest aim to make the boys intrusted to his care feel like Christian gentlemen. An English writer, in order to express most strongly his admiration of Plato's works, says that they are pervaded by a spirit, almost, of a Christian gentleman j* an officer of the army or navy may be tried for" con­ duct unbecoming a gentleman,"-acharge ruin­ ous to his career, if the court pronounces him guilty j "on the word of a gentleman," is * There is a work, published some years ago, which nevertheless I have not yet met with: The Christian Gentleman's Daily Walk. By Sir Archi­ bald Edmonstone, Bart. Third edition, rearranged and enlarged. 12 OHARAOTER OF TIlE GENTLEMAN. considered among men of character equiva­ lent to a solemn asseveration, and the charge "he is no gentleman," as one of the most de­ grading that can be brought against a man of education. You would understand me at once as being desirous of conveying a grave idea, were I to say that Socrates, though condemned by vulgar envy, died passionless, a philosopher and a gentleman, or that Charles 1. of Eng­ land, after having long prevaricated, and occasionally stooped to unworthy practices, demeaned himself, during his trial and on the scaffold, like a gentleman. Erskine, the great advocate, said, in one of his pleadings, "He is an English gentleman, the best thing a man can be;" and Townsend, in his "History of the IIouse of Commons," calls it, The society of the first gentlemen in the world. When Nicholas, the Emperor of Russia, conversing with the English ambassador, Sir IIamilton Seymour, on the state of Turkey, was desirous of impressing the latter that he was speaking with perfect truth, he said, " Now CHARACTER OF TilE GENTLEMAN. 13 I desire to speak to you as a friend and as a gentleman."* The emperor was speaking in French j yet he used the English term" gen­ tleman." I give in conclusion of these instances Judge Talfourd's words, which he uttercd on the bench, in a case tried at the Bristol assizes, shortly before his sudden death. The evi­ dence provcd that the defendant, while in the theatre, had said to the plaintiff, "Do not speak to me: I am a gentleman, and you are a tradcsman." "Gentleman," said the learned judge, "is a term which does not apply to any station. The man of rank who deports him­ self with dignity and candor, and the trades­ man who discharges the duties of life with honor and integrity, are alikc entitled to it j nay, the humblest artisan, who fulfils the obli­ gations cast upon him with virtue and with honor, is more entitlcd to the name of gentle­ man than the man who could indulge in offen­ * Sir H.